The on-going session of the Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has once again put a spotlight on the internal controls at the government enclave.
For the sake of those who are not familiar with the PAC, it is specifically responsible for overseeing government expenditure by getting government ministries and Parastatals to appear and account in accordance with Section 95(3) of the Standing Orders of the National Assembly. The PAC is one of the 16 Committees of Parliament charged with overseeing the activities of the Executive and is currently in session.
For some few years now, the PAC continues to do an ‘effective job’ in scrutinizing the expenditure of public finances. It has also been key player in investigating issues that are slightly broader in perspective.
There is no doubt that the PAC is a vital tool that could be used to oversee government expenditure and ensure that tax payers’ monies are not wasted as is the case now.
Despite the favourable manner in which we have been assessed by international scholars and organizations, one can still argue that the quality of corporate governance has not been as good as we have been made to believe – atleast in the last few years. This has been a key takeaway at each session of the PAC. This has been a chorus by the PAC in its annual report to Parliament each passing year. Unfortunately, owing to the deliberate emaciation of state institutions by cabinet, the PAC remains toothless, atleast when it comes to implementation of its recommendations. For a very long time now, the committee’s role has been limited to critising hapless accounting officers but failing to impose sanctions on those who have been wayward.
The truth of the matter is that true democracy and economic prosperity for all will remain a pipe dream for our country if those in power cannot be held accountable for their acts, omissions, decisions, policies or expenditures.
For a very long time, and before the arrival of the immediate past and current committee, it seemed and remained true that we had a long way to go before our MPs came anywhere near most of our Accounting Officers. This is in relation to issues of accounting and public finance management. From the past and current session of the PAC, I appears wasteful and irregular expenditure is rampant and has been well documented amongst our people.
We are glad that as a way of showing an itch to grow bigger teeth the then Lobatse MP Nehemiah Modubule who was the PAC chairperson found it important to have the interaction between PAC members and accounting officers be held in public. Going public was a good step in the right direction since it does not only enhance transparency but a way of earning credibility bearing in mind the power dynamics in Botswana. The truth of the matter is that changes that are required to be made to the PAC however do not end with making its session public. So the next step and challenge to the current chairperson – Dithapelo Keorapetse is to lobby for it to become more powerful. The end result would be an improvement of public finance management at the Government enclave.
The PAC should also task itself to ensure that, for the sake of accountability and good performance, the transfers of accounting officers must be kept at a minimal level. This will in turn make an end to the frequent reshuffle of permanent secretaries and government departmental directors, which affects not just performance but also hinders accountability. As said before in this space, the Civil Service in our country remains a very powerful institution because it is a repository of so much talent and experience. When things get out of balance they can accelerate out of control very quickly and affect individuals, the nation…etc. Given our governance and economic structure it is our civil service that can currently keep our economy moving forward. If our civil servants, for example, break the laws of financial balance we will end up broke just like we are now. This is why the #Bottomline dictates that we regard public accountability as an important prerequisite for proper and effective delivery of the public projects and services. And we can only do that through a PAC that can make recommendations that are implementable.
